Metro

Tuesday June 30, 2009

Khalid also in the dark over Bukit Antarabangsa

By LIM CHIA YING


SELANGOR Mentri Besar Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim said the state government and the local authorities were only bystanders in the Dec 6 Bukit Antarabangsa landslide tragedy issue.

Khalid said the state was told that the evaluation and study of hillslopes as well as any decision on the matter were under the auspices of the federal government.

“The Works Ministry took it upon themselves to allocate the budget and identify the contractor to repair and redevelop the hillslope,” Khalid said.

Khalid said he was also in the dark over the report that was supposed to have been issued.

“Somehow, we have become bystanders since the bulk of decisions are made by the ministry.

“Even the interim report was not passed to the state directly. Instead, it was given to the police and the Federal Government’s engineering department,” he said.

When asked if he would pursue the matter further or even bring it up in Parliament, he said that the state should not be ‘disturbing’ what the federal government was doing.

“We see no point in interfering since the hovernment has expressed its intention to deal with the issue,” he said.

“In fact, there should not be anything political about this. It is solely an administrative issue that has to be promptly dealt with and resolved,” he said.

Meanwhile, it is learnt that a six-member task force was appointed by the Bar Council last December to find solutions to prevent or minimise future landslides in or around hill slope developments, while offering suggestions to the minister and relevant authorities on any amendments to existing legislation.

In its report, the task force said it had examined areas that involved the possible causes of the landslides, the adequacy of the existing regulatory and legal framework, the contributory factors and suggested possible solutions to prevent further disasters.

Khalid, however, said he was unaware of this report.

Earlier, Khalid was at the Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) Sri Melaka public housing area located in his parliamentary constituency for a meet-the-people programme.

Khalid also denied claims that one had to be a member of Pakatan Rakyat in order to secure job contracts in the state, as alleged by an MCA politician who said he had proof of this.

“To date, I have not received any such proof. If there is, then show it (the proof) to me,” Khalid said.

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